


And They All Lived Happily Ever After

by SingingInTheRaiin



Category: Sally Face (Video Games)
Genre: Fix It Fic, Gen, Happy Ending, Kid Fic, M/M, Time Travel, a bit - Freeform, sal's choice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:07:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22173784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingInTheRaiin/pseuds/SingingInTheRaiin
Summary: When Sal dies, he expects that to be the end of, well, everything. Instead, he's given a second chance, and a terrible choice. Maybe he can go back and save everyone from Addison Apartments and be with Larry and be happy, but can he live with the cost of such a thing?
Relationships: Henry Fisher/Lisa Johnson (implied), Sal Fisher/Larry Johnson
Comments: 4
Kudos: 93





	And They All Lived Happily Ever After

Larry stared at the photograph of him and his parents. It was one of the few things worth looking at since he was stuck in the tree house. Though it would be nice if he could at least press the play button on the radio and listen to some music, because it could get quite annoying listening to the doctor constantly complaining down below. 

It was a particularly noisy day, and Larry flopped down to stick his head through the hole in the floor. “Look man, I know that this isn’t exactly the greatest existence, but…” he trailed off when he realized that the noise wasn’t coming from the doctor. “Ash?” She was sitting on the ground, back pressed up against the tree, legs pulled to her chest. There was a sinking feeling in Larry’s stomach. 

As a ghost who had very little to do to occupy his time, it could be difficult to keep track of the days, but he was pretty sure that it had been at least a few days since Ash’s last frantic visit, where she’d finally accepted that Sal had been telling the truth all along. 

She slowly looked up at him, and even from the distance between them, Larry could see how awful she looked. Her eyes were red and puffy, and there were streaks of makeup all over her face. She said something, but it was too quiet for Larry to hear. “Come up here!” 

There was a long pause, and then Ash slowly stood up and began climbing the tree. She moved with jerky motions that seemed like she had to put effort into each movement. She finally got into the tree house, and pulled herself up enough that just her legs were dangling down over the edge. She sniffled, and then ducked her head down to avoid looking at Larry. “I was too late,” she whispered. “Sal’s gone.”

Even though Larry hadn’t truly expected Ash to be able to rush in last minute and play the hero, it still felt like something stabbed right through his chest in response to those words. He sank down to the floor next to Ash, just far enough away that she wouldn’t be able to feel the cold that seemed to radiate off of him. 

Larry and Sal had been best friends since the day they met, and they’d even been heading to something… else, but then Larry had been forced to end it. He’d been promised that he could only help Sal from the other side, and that they’d be able to save the world together, and even though the idea of leaving Sal behind was terrible, he’d done it because he thought that at least Sal would get to keep going. 

Instead, Sal had spent the past three years in prison, being accused of senseless murder, and Larry hadn’t been able to see his best friend in all that time. He opened his mouth to ask something, but then closed it again when he realized that there was nothing he could learn at this point that would change anything. It didn’t matter how it had happened, all that mattered was that Sal was gone. And if he was stuck as a ghost, then he was stuck far out of reach. 

“I didn’t know ghosts could cry,” Ash murmured.

Larry was about to point out that they couldn’t, but then he felt the warm trails on his cheeks, and he reached up to brush aside the tears. He gulped once, and his voice came out thicker than usual. “I didn’t know either.” They both just sat there together, in silence, and grieved for the loss of someone who had been so good, so amazing. Sal was gone, and it felt like something inside of Larry broke right in half at the thought.  
,,,

Sal blinked slowly, and looked around. He didn’t know where he was at first, but after a few seconds, the blinding whiteness that surrounded him faded away, and Sal found that he was in a bedroom- his bedroom. Not the one from the apartment, but the one from the house he’d grown up in. It looked mostly like Sal remembered it, and he furrowed his brows in confusion. 

The strangest thing was that he didn’t feel the usual tugging or tightness when he made an expression. With a shaking hand, Sal reached up to touch his face. Instead of the smoothness of the mask or the gnarled skin that used to make Sal vomit to see, he felt normal, elastic skin with no problems. 

He stumbled down the hall and into the bathroom and slapped his hand onto the switch. As light filled the room Sal flinched back in anticipation of what he was going to see in the mirror. But the most unusual part of his reflection was the fact that he found himself staring at a perfectly normal face. Two eyes, no scars, no teeth showing through the side. His blue hair was shorter and spikier than it had been in years. He kept staring at his face, which wasn’t the face of a kid that he remembered seeing in old photos. He looked like someone in his twenties.

It was all just too much, if this was some kind of bizarre dream that was supposed to torment him with what could have been, and he leaned over and threw up right into the sick. He could feel the tears rolling down his face (and it was such a novelty sensation, because his scarred up face had had very little sensitivity). 

He kept going until there was nothing left, and then heaved a few more times. Then he slowly looked up at his reflection in the mirror again, and tried to figure out why it felt so much like staring at a complete stranger. 

Sal didn’t know how long he stood there, but eventually there was a knock on the door, and then a voice that Sal never thought that he’d hear again. “Sal? Honey? Everything okay?”

Sal didn’t even hesitate to yank the door open, and he stared out at his mom, who was wearing a bathrobe loosely draped over her pajamas, and her hair was a mess of curls. If this was just a dream, then Sal was going to enjoy every moment of it, and he threw himself forward to pull his mom into a tight hug. She was smaller now than in his memories (or at least he was bigger), but she felt so real, it was hard to believe that she wasn’t. She couldn’t be, because that’s not how the world worked. Dead people didn’t just come back to life, scars didn’t just disappear. 

His mom humored him, and didn’t try to pull away until Sal was ready, and then he just kept staring at her, ready for her to disappear any moment now. “Honey?”

“I’m fine,” he assured her, and then paused in surprise at the sound of his voice. Instead of a rough, growly thing, it sounded like someone else’s, soft and smooth. It was so bizarre. “I just, uh… must’ve had some bad food or something.”

His mom’s eyes narrowed in concern. “Was it that shrimp? I told your father to throw it away days ago because I knew you’d be tempted to eat it as soon as you got here.” 

Now that he thought about it, Sal realized he could see the hallway by the light spilling out from the bathroom, and it was decorated with all kinds of winter holiday stuff. “Am I home for Christmas?”

Now his mom looked really worried. She reached up to press the back of her hand against Sal’s forehead. “Are you alright, honey?”

Sal reached up and grabbed his mom’s wrist. “Yeah, everything’s fine. I just got confused for a moment.”

“Hm. Well, if you’re sure, then I’ll just head back to bed, and-”

“Wait!” His mom stared at him with wide eyes, and Sal forced himself to keep his voice as calm as possible. “Could you stay up with me? Please?”

Maybe it was a strange request to make, but Sal’s mom must have seen the desperation in his eyes (two of them, and not at all hidden by a mask), because she nodded. “Alright. Why don’t we go downstairs, and I’ll make some cocoa for us?”

Sal nodded, and took a few steps to follow him. Between one step and the next, suddenly the house was gone and the world was just a blinding bright whiteness again, and Sal turned around, alarm growing in him. He should have known that it was too good to be true. He should have known that-

“Sal.” 

He turned, and saw Larry’s dad, the only thing visible in the light that surrounded them. “Mr. Johnson? What’s going on?”

Even without a clear face, Sal could tell that Mr. Johnson was sad. “You have a choice. This could be your life, though you’d have to live to this point on your own. You’ll be young, and you can choose not to go to the park that day. You’ll grow up an ordinary boy, with two loving parents and no shame or disgust towards yourself.” Sal was about to say that that sounded like a great deal, but Mr. Johnson wasn’t finished speaking yet. “But. If you don’t go to the park that day, you’ll never move to Addison Apartments. You’ll never meet Larry or any of the others. You’ll never defeat the demon or stop the infection from spreading. You’ll have the life you wanted, but at what cost?”

Sal crossed his arms over his chest. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“You need to make a choice, Sal. If you are finished, then it is time for you to move on. If you would rather change things for the sake of your perfect life, then you must decide that now.”

It wasn’t fair, to force Sal to make a choice like that. He’d just spent the past three years alone in prison after murdering almost everyone he cared about, and he was expected to make such a crucial decision? “I want to go back,” he blurted out. “I want the life that you showed me, I want that.”

There was a moment of silence, and Sal couldn’t tell whether Mr. Johnson was disappointed in him or not. “Alright, Sal. I wish you the best.”  
,,,

When Sal opened his eyes again, he could immediately feel that he was much smaller than before, and when he had to hop down out of his bed to go to the bathroom, and he couldn’t even see himself in the mirror over the sink, he knew that he was a little kid again. 

He quietly made his way downstairs so that he could look at the family calendar hanging on the fridge. It was May 1980, which meant that Sal was about four years old. Which meant that this was right around the time when everything would go wrong. When Sal would lose his mom and his face. He didn’t know what day it was today, but he would never forget the day that his mom died, which was the 23rd. 

As he looked at the calendar, he was filled with nostalgia for happier, more innocent times. He also found it rather amusing that he could read all of the little notes left by his parents. He was startled when the light turned brighter, and Sal turned to see his mom standing in the doorway. “Sal? What are you doing up so early?”

“Couldn’t sleep.”

She laughed as she made her way over to him, and Sal couldn’t help thinking that she had to be the most beautiful mother in the entire world. “You’re that excited for the park?”

For a moment it felt like a sharp pain stabbed through his chest. “NO! We can’t go!” 

His mom frowned, and crouched down in front of Sal so that she could meet his eyes. “You’ve been so excited about going to the park for weeks. I thought I’d never be able to get you to stop talking about all the roller coasters that you’re going to go on.”

Sal adamantly shook his head. “I changed my mind.” Then he hurried past his mom and ran up the stairs to his room. He would have plenty of time with her later, but right now he needed to grieve for the life he’d already lived. He flopped down onto the bed and pulled up the blankets to wrap them around him in a cozy cocoon. 

He was going to get to keep his mom and his dad (who’d become so distant after Diane’s death that he may as well have been gone too). Neither of them would have to die brutal, horrible deaths, at Sal’s hands or otherwise. But he’d never have Larry or Ash or Todd or Neil or Glug or Maple. He’d never have Lisa as a mother-in-law, or interesting neighbors to talk to. If Sal wasn’t there, would the red-eyed demon kill everyone? Or would it just infect all of them until they were mindless spreaders of its influence? Would the cult keep killing people to serve them as lunch meat? Was it just narcissistic to think that Sal’s presence would really be enough to change things?

Maybe he could convince his parents to move to Addison Apartments, though he doubted they’d go for it. And even if they did, wouldn’t that just lead to both of them being killed by Sal? If Sal did nothing and stayed where he was, did that make him responsible for all the people that he wouldn’t end up saving? Could he really live with himself if being selfish now led to the loss of so many innocent lives in the future? But how could he accept that he would lose his mother again? How was he supposed to survive it? 

Sal waited a few hours, but by then he’d already realized what he needed to do. He dragged himself downstairs and forced a smile on his face. “I’m sorry about earlier, Mom. I was just tired. I do still want to go to the park.”

His mom turned around from where she’d been sitting at her desk, and she gave Sal a long, searching look. “Are you sure that’s all that was about? You know that you can talk to me about anything, right honey?”

But he really couldn’t. Sal was afraid that he acted anything less than enthusiastic about going to the park the trip would be cancelled or postponed, and even though Sal really really didn’t want his mom to die again, he had no choice in the matter. Not really, not when potentially the entire world was at stake. 

Sal was so busy drinking in the sight of his mother that he barely paid any attention to his own words, but he must have been convincing enough, because soon enough he found himself getting packed into the car with lots of sunblock and a picnic basket. His dad backed out last minute, just like Sal knew he would, claiming that he had work to do. 

The park was alright, though it was mostly just a generic amusement park. What Sal really enjoyed was getting to spend the day with his mom. He was afraid that he would forget what she looked and sounded like, and Sal was determined to memorize her entirely.

It was about noon when Sal’s mother cheerfully announced that they should grab the food from the car and set up a picnic just outside of the park, where things would be a little more peaceful. She spread a checkered blanket on the ground in the shade of a big tree, and the two of them settled down to eat. Sal felt restless the entire time, and found that he could hardly get down more than a couple of bites of food as the thought of what he was going to do made him sick. 

His mother reached out to gently rest her hand on his arm. “Honey? Is everything alright?” 

There was the sound of barking in the distance, and Sal immediately stiffened up. It had taken him quite a while to get over his fear of dogs, but suddenly it all came rushing back to him as he remembered what was going to happen. “Can I go pet the dogs?” he blurted out, diving into the deep end before he could change his mind and ruin everything. 

If his mom was surprised by the sudden question, she didn’t say anything. “Alright, come on, let’s go look at the dogs.” She stood up and reached out to take Sal’s hand.

Sal took hers automatically, but then paused. Sure, all of this had happened a while ago for him, but surely he would have remembered if she’d gone with him to see the dogs? He remembered approaching them on his own, and then he’d looked back to see the weird dog man approaching his mom. Before he’d been able to call out, the other dogs had attacked and-

He looked up at his mother, searching for some sign that he was doing the right thing. What had changed the way that this was supposed to go? Was it bad for things to change? Of course the whole point would be to change things further down the line, but was it bad to change them now?

Then his mom crouched down in front of him, and reached out to take his other hand as well. She looked him in the eyes, and Sal savored what it felt like for someone to even do that instead of awkwardly shifting their gaze away from his. She gave his hands a light squeeze, and murmured words that had definitely never been said the first time around. “You are so brave, my darling. I know that something terrible is going to happen, but you are going to fight through it and make it out the other side, and you’re going to go on to do great things. I love you so much, Sal, and I am so, so proud to be your mother.” Then she pulled him into a tight hug, the kind that felt like she never wanted to let go of him.

“Mom?” His voice broke slightly on the word as he tried to figure out what was going on.

He heard a sniffle, and then she stood up again. “Come on. Let’s go see the dogs.” There was a steady resolve in her voice, and Sal got the bizarre feeling that she knew exactly what was about to go down. Why else would there be a look of such dread on her face as they walked towards the dogs?  
,,,

When Sal woke up, he wasn’t in the hospital, but instead back in the white room. He looked around for Mr. Johnson and spotted him quickly. “This straight up sucks,” he said in the grizzled voice that he’d gotten used to over the years. “Why am I the one who has to-?” He couldn’t finish the question, but he knew that it was understood anyways.

Mr. Johnson sighed, and he seemed terribly tired when he answered. “Do you know what happened the day your mother died?” Sal gave a slight shake of the head. The memories of the actual incident had long been lost to him, and a therapist had said that it was his mind’s way of protecting him from the trauma of it. “I could give you the memories if you’d like. Or let you play them out yourself.”

Sal quickly shook his head. It was hard enough letting his mom die, but there was no way in hell he was actually going to watch if he didn’t have to. “No thank you.”

“Then I will just tell you. The man you saw that day was not just some figment of your imagination, Sal. He was going to take you. You were going to be plucked out of your life and brought somewhere else. But your mother refused to let that happen. She fought so hard to keep you, and in the end she was killed for it. But while she distracted that man, his control of his animals lapsed, and you were badly injured. He had no use for what he considered a broken child, so he left you to your fate, under the assumption that you would quickly perish anyways. I cannot tell you why, Sal, I wish that I could. But what I can tell you is that you have been a part of this for far longer than you know. You’re right that it’s not fair for this burden to be placed on your shoulders, but you are strong enough to bear it, Sal, I know you are.” 

Then Sal got the vague impression of a hug, and he felt a renewed burst of energy in himself as he thought about all of the people that he would save this time.  
,,,

Larry and Sal were both sprawled out on the floor of the tree house, brown and blue hair swirled together in the space between them. “Man, it’s so weird to be back here.” It had been years since they’d fought to kill the red eyed demon and save everyone in the apartments- and probably the rest of the town too.

“Hm,” Sal hummed in agreement. Then he turned his head to the side to look at Larry. His mask was lying somewhere nearby, and even though Larry had seen Sal unmasked many times before, he always felt breathless at the thought of just how much Sal trusted him to be willing to show his real face like that. And maybe it wasn’t a pretty face, full of scars and openings that didn’t belong and a missing eye, but to Larry it was the most beautiful face ever because of who it belonged to. Suddenly overcome with emotion, he reached out to grab Sal’s nearest hand and give it a tight squeeze. There were a few seconds of silence before Sal cleared his throat. “Did you ever wonder how I knew? About Terence and the demon and the cult and all that stuff?”

Larry thought about it for a moment, and then shrugged one shoulder. “Eh, I just figured that you know pretty much everything.”

Sal rolled his eye, and then took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, the air whistling slightly between his fake teeth. “Yeah, well. Maybe I’ll tell you about it someday. For now, let’s just lie here and be happy.”

Larry nodded in agreement, but after a few minutes he was struck with an idea, and he suddenly bolted upright. Sal slowly followed, looking at him in bemusement. Larry clasped his hands around Sal’s, and looked directly at the other man so that Sal would know how serious he was in that moment. “We should get married.”

It sounded like Sal had to choke back spit before he responded with a clever, “What?”

Now that the idea had gotten into his head, Larry couldn’t tamp down his excitement over it. “We’ve fought literal demons together, and our parents are already okay with us dating, and we have the same great taste in music, so what else could you need?”

Sal laughed, but didn’t try to pull his hands free, which Larry took as a good sign. “I can’t believe it. You’re alive, and I’m alive, and everyone’s alive, and you want to marry me.”

There were tears starting to slide down Sal’s cheek, and Larry leaned forward, worried about what they might mean. “Sal? Are you just going to leave me hanging here?”

He let out a sputtering laugh. “Fine, I’ll marry you. But only for the tax benefits.”

Larry was startled by how much relief he felt, and he immediately shifted to pull Sal into a tight hug. “That’s the only reason?”

“Yup, can’t think of a single other reason to-” The breath was knocked out of Sal when Larry pushed him back to lying flat on the floor and shifted so that he was right over him. Sal reached up to brush his fingers over Larry’s cheek. “Though if you want to try and convince me of other reasons to get married, I’m open to suggestions.”

“You’re one evil dude,” Larry said, though the effect was lost among his wide grin, and he just had to lean forward and kiss the smirk off of Sal’s face.

They both stayed up in the treehouse together for hours, making lots of noise that would be completely inappropriate if anyone were to happen to pass by. Larry was giddy with happiness at the thought that he was allowed to be in love with someone so good, so amazing. Sal was here, and they were both safe and alive, and it felt like something in Larry’s heart grew, unable to contain all of the love and excitement that he felt for the future. It was going to be a good one, Larry just knew it.


End file.
